Without Death
by darkestboy
Summary: Around the world, death has ceased and everyone has a thought on it. Set during and between The New World and Rendition.


**Name: **Without Death

**Characters:** Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper, Rhys Williams, Andy Davidson, Esther Drummond, Rex Matheson, Jilly Kitzinger, Oswald Danes and Vera Juarez.  
**Synopsis:** Around the world, death has ceased and everyone has a thought on it. Set during and between _The New World_ and _Rendition._

Andy Davidson had missed this – investigating the strange and the wonderful. While he had never been an official member of Torchwood, there had been times when his services had been needed, even if it was just putting Roman soldiers into overcrowded cells but investigating the miracle with Gwen Cooper on a hospital computer had been a highlight for him and he could tell that it had been one for her.

Seclusion didn't suit Gwen Cooper and she knew it, deep down. The more she tried to shut herself away from Torchwood, the more it called to her like a siren at sea. Hiding in the middle of nowhere did more to fuel her craving of investigating the bizarre than curbing it but deep down, she knew Rhys was right. Anwen had to be her priority at the moment and she couldn't do anything to put her family in harm's way, though Gwen had the sneaking suspicion that Torchwood was going to catch up with her, whether she liked it or now.

Rhys Williams had held onto his daughter and lied to her. He promised her that she would always be safe but if a member of the CIA could find them, Rhys knew that once again, his life was going to be upturned. All of their lives would be. He didn't want to blame Gwen or even Captain Jack Bollocks but Rhys did not want to be going through with this again. He knew the miracle was bigger than them all, but he didn't want his whole world engulfed by it either.

Jack Harkness had tried his damndest to stay away from everyone. He had even spent a long time away from the Earth but the planet had a magnetic pull on him and once again, he was back home. When he started uncovering more on the surroundings of the miracle, he discovered to his horror that he was now vulnerable. He had taken care of Torchwood's history online, even erased Esther's memories but he couldn't stay away from Gwen Cooper and now he feared that being back in her life, he had damned her once again.

Esther Drummond had awoken to a blinding headache and a body covered in bruises. She had spent most of her day learning about the miracle, whilst recovering her memories of both Torchwood and her encounter with Jack Harkness. The idea of a planet of undying people unsettled Esther and she didn't doubt for a minute that she was the only one with said fears. The world had changed but Esther doubted that this was a miracle.

Jilly Kitzinger had always been an optimistic sort of a woman. In her line of work, failure was rarely seen as a real option and whatever failure might have come her way; an opportunity could be extrapolated from it. Jilly saw this miracle for what it was – her golden ticket and she also knew two people who could help to achieve her desired goal and they were going to do it, whether they liked it or not.

By all rights, Oswald Danes knew he should've been dead and while he had successfully managed to wrangle himself out of prison, he also knew that there was going to be a lot of people baying for his blood. Even before the miracle that wouldn't have worried Oswald and now it worried him even less. He survived his own execution for a reason. Something bigger was at work here and everything that Oswald thought he knew about himself and the world had changed. Oswald was determined that whatever gave him this new lease of life that he was going to use it to his full advantage.

Vera Juarez looked with her own eyes at the moving suicide bomber. His head had been detached from his body and still, he would not die. It flew in the face of everything piece of human and medical history she knew and while many of her colleagues were panicking, Vera knew that whatever was responsible for this 'miracle' wasn't going to stay hidden for long. She had a growing feeling inside her that eventually she would be drawn into a far bigger picture than the one she was confronted with right now.

Rex Matheson knew he should've been dead and if the panicked nurse on the TV wasn't enough to drill home the message, the lack of effect from the drugs he swiped to keep himself stable was also an indicator. He looked at Gwen Cooper and Jack Harkness, as if the two of them were keeping a secret but also knowing they weren't. Rex still had difficulty believing in Jack's claims of previous immortality but there was something about this reunited Torchwood that didn't make sense and in a world without death that was almost saying something indeed.

_Miracle my ass. _

Rex had muttered under his breath, now on the run with the errant Torchwood and Esther, hoping that with the four of them; maybe they could save the world from this special kind of hell. If only the odds were in their favour though.

- The End -


End file.
